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Mashiba Ryō
Mashiba Ryo (間柴 了) is a lightweight out boxer and the current OPBF Lightweight champion affiliated with Toho Boxing Gym and the older brother of Mashiba Kumi. About One of t he most intimidating characters in the series, Mashiba is a former Japanese Junior Lightweight champion, the current OPBF Lightweight champion, and the older brother of Mashiba Kumi. Years prior to the start of the storyline, when Mashiba was still in high school, his parents were killed in an accident and he swore two things upon their graves: that he would never rely on anyone but himself and that anyone who harmed Kumi would pay dearly. As such, Mashiba is rather unsociable and cynical, rarely associating with anyone but his sister and has often found himself fired from many jobs. He does seem to be resentful of the world at large, but he is legitimately drawn to boxing, believing it to be fair. Mashiba is usually seen to be one of the meddlers in Ippo's relationship with Kumi, being protective to the point of overbearing. He has slackened somewhat but does still keep an eye on them if the mood strikes him. He also does not tell Kumi when his matches are, perhaps knowing that she dislikes boxing anyway and even warned her not to come to match with Sawamura as he knew that it would most likely turn into a bloodbath. Mashiba is well-known as a vicious out-boxer, specializing in the Detroit Hitman style and Flicker Jab. Mashiba is exceptionally tall for his weight class and his reach is even more impressive, often chipping away at his opponents with his fast jabs. Even if someone manages to step in, they still have to face his deadly Chopping Right. He has also added a devastating right uppercut to his arsenal, presumably to remedy his weakness to in-fighting. He is a rather deadly boxer, having earned his nickname, "Shinigami (God of Death), because many of his opponents retired after facing him. He has moved up in weight to Lightweight since his suspension to challenge for the OPBF title. He is now ranked 5th in the world after taking the title. Story First seen at the Licence gathering for all new rookies and later in the rookie king tournament. Brutally attacking his opponents and nearly killing them. Then after he spotted Miyata at a match he insulted his father, which provoked a rivalry between the two. After actually fighting Miyata appears to have the upper hand (realizing Miyata was a force to be feared) before Mashiba commited a foul by stepping on miyata's foot to hold him still and beated him brutally. Miyata still fought on showing tenacious spirit which even Mashiba showed fear from but ultimately Miyata couldn't fight properly with one foot(the other foot was disfunctional due to mashiba's foul)and he lost. Ippo felt despair due to becoming unable to meet Miyata in the east rookie king finals and runs into Mashiba who says he's glad he's in the hospital adding fuel to the fire. Upon Ippo and Mashiba meeting in the east rookie king finals Mashiba landed pretty decent blows and had Ippo on the ropes, but Ippo showed a determination (similar to Miyata) that Mashiba felt fear from and Ippo ultimately won. He was later stated to have moved up to the jr.lightweights (which Kimura grieved over saying he didn't want to fight a monster like him) and around this time Mashiba was about to do his championship about at the same time Ippo was against Date Eiji. He asked Kumi not to come knowing how bloody the fight would have been and Ippo later sees him brutally beaten but ultimately wins the belt. Whereas Ippo didn't. So although losing to Ippo, he won the japanesse belt before he did. Kimura finally readies himself to have a match with Mashiba for the belt. After showing tremendous tenacity and relentless skill (a side not usually seen from Kimura) he nearly beats Mashiba, even saying he can see the belt in his hands. But ultimately Mashiba shows severe desperation and wins a very tough bout, even saying it's the toughest hefd's been through. He later has an encounter with Sawumura Ryuuhei (whom Ippo was about to fight in the next two days)and he knicks Kumi with hist fist for touching his bike and Mashiba retaliates by swinging a punch at him and gets into his hitman stance before Ippo said he would take care of him. After his loss to Ippo, Sawumura moves up to the jr.lights to fight Mashiba (Kimura grieves this as well seeing as he now has two apparent monsters in his weight class,but feels reassured that in their title match one of them could possibly critically injured and he wouldn't have to face two monsters). When they fight sparks fly as they both commit foul after foul and blood flies everywhere. It could easily be the bloodiest fight in the series. Mashiba thinks about how hard Sawamura's punches are and that he aimed one of them at his sister which resorts in Mashiba punching Sawumura out of the ring and giving him a concussion with a foul. Which even though Mashiba won the fight, he lost the war and the belt. In his return match he has moved up to the lightweights, with Kimura saying that Aoki has the monster in his weightclass now (Aoki remains unfazed in his confident belief that he could never get an OPBF Title Shot.) and Mashiba has a bit of a tough bout and wins the OPBF lightweight belt. Fights Fighting Style and Techniques Mashiba is one of the few characters who uses the offensive hitman style developed by Thomas Hearns. Mashiba's height and reach allows him to have a fast and very quick flicker jab that is almost impossible to get past. His typical KO pattern involves using the flicker to corner and weaken the opponent and then slam in a chopping right to his opponents jaw. Besides the flicker jabs Mashiba also uses long hooks with both arms and right straights, so most of his techniques are suitable to long range. During his one year suspension, Mashiba added a right high uppercut to his techniques, so he can now deal with infighters and has overcome his weakness against close range fighters a little bit. Mashiba's hitman style is also his greatest weakness since he has to drop his left guard, which gives his opponent a chance to drive a major attack on his right. Also, due to Mashiba's height he is very bad against close range fighters, like Ippo. One of the major ways to take down Mashiba would also be to attack his jaw, as seen when Ippo and Miyata managed to give him a down with one attack straight to his jaw, but they would have to attack his body a couple of times to make it come down lower. He uses the elbow block to deal with strong punches, but continued attacks can render his left arm damaged and he would lose his Flicker jabs. To counter infighters like Ippo, Mashiba developed a uppercut so to catch them off guard when they step in. Originally, Mashiba had to deal with major weight control but he has moved from the Featherweight class to the Junior lightweight class, to his natural weight of Lightweight class so he likely doesn't have this problem as bad anymore. *Flicker Jab *Chopping Right *Elbow Block Successions Category:Active boxers Category:Male characters Category:Characters from Japan Category:Characters from Tokyo Category:Toho Boxing Gym Category:Featherweights Category:Junior Lightweights Category:Japanese Junior Lightweight Champion Ryo Category:Boxers